The ANC is deploying dirty tactics similar to those employed by the apartheid government, the Congress of the People has said following a nationwide march against President Jacob Zuma.
Violence broke out in a Durban when a DA protester was beaten with sticks, allegedly by participants in a separate ANC Youth League-led march in the city.
"COPE wants to remind the ANC that during our freedom struggle, especially during the 1980s at the height of the threat posed by United Democratic Front against apartheid and later in the 1990's after the unbanning of the ANC and other political parties, the apartheid government also unleashed vigilante groups to attack, intimidate and disrupt the people's March to a democratic country," spokesperson Dennis Bloem said on Saturday.
He said the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKVA) were employed to intimidate and instil fear into anyone who wanted to voice opposition against Zuma.
The party applauded South Africans for coming out in their numbers during protests calling for Zuma's resignation.
"ANC must know that yesterday was just the beginning of bigger things to come. The moral campaign to remove Zuma will be intensified over the next few days and weeks."
Bloem said they were encouraged by the steadfastness of protesters who kept going despite intimidation. -- News24